You know, get the snow blower fixed, do something about that leaky faucet, figure out how to pay the bills, and, by the way, fix the state. Yes, you heard that last part right. Fix the state. I know we hire other people to do that, by electing them to office.
But they seem to need more supervision, don‘t you think?
There is some good news. During the last few weeks, our lawmakers actually behaved a little more like statesmen and a little less like a bunch of fourth graders fighting on the playground.
After an entire year in which the two parties seemingly couldn’t agree on a bipartisan approach to pick up a dead pigeon, they managed to reach a compromise on a smoking ban.
Then, after much wailing, screaming and gnashing of teeth, they passed a package of education reforms which, we were told, could qualify Michigan for $400 million dollars in federal “Race to the Top” education money. Actually, the way it was usually presented was that if we got the legislation done, we got the dough. Afterward, our lawmakers seemed pleased with themselves. But it turns out that we really don’t know how much money we will get, if any.
Four hundred million is almost ten percent of all the money available, and Michigan only has three percent of the nation’s population. Plus, as the Gongwer News Service reported yesterday, the respected journal Education Week casts some doubt on Michigan’s chances. There seems to be some concern that the reforms didn’t make it sufficiently harder for teachers to get tenure.
But let’s assume we do get the money. What we have to make sure is that the lawmakers don’t do with it what their predecessors did when Michigan started its first state lottery, almost forty years ago. They sold it to the voters by promising the proceeds would be used for education. And they were…
Except that the lawmakers then took away money they had been spending on education and used it for something else, in a classic version of the old shell game.
We can’t afford to let them do that this time. If you’ve been listening to me for a while, you know that I’ve been moaning that we are facing the mother of all deficits and budget battles in Lansing next year, and that Michigan’s future is at stake.
Increasingly, other people are saying this too, that our future will be determined for decades by the decisions that are made in 2010, both in Lansing and at the ballot box.
We’ll be making some of those decisions ourselves, and pressuring our elected representatives to make right ones for us.
But here’s a suggestion. When you are trying to figure out for yourselves what the right policies are, forget next year.
Think about 2025 or 2030, when the babies and children of today will be young adults entering college or the work force.
What kind of opportunities do we want them to have? What kind of a Michigan do we want to create for them?
If we make our decisions with that in mind, the chances are much better that everything will be all right. And for our battered old state itself, I can’t imagine a better Christmas present.
In 1971, Molly Ivins wrote of the Texas Legislature, "All anyone needs to enjoy the state legislature is a strong stomach and a complete insensitivity to the needs of the people.
As long as you don't think about what this particular body should be doing and what it is actually is doing to the quality of life in (insert Michigan here) than it's all marvelous fun".
Fun aside, it's time for each of us to claim "a new day" for Michigan.
Posted by: K Russell | December 28, 2009 at 09:09 PM
very informational... educative as well, i read and felt like reading over and over again....good job!
Posted by: Top Grade Acai | March 26, 2010 at 04:58 PM